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As well as the initial fine, Mr Lushingdon has claimed he has not been able to appeal because the website crashed.

"The appeal was rejected having in-completed the appeal online as the site crashed on 31 August with a rejection letter delivered on the September 1," he said.

"I was on the phone to the council informing them that there was a problem with the online appeal system as it had crashed 3 times earlier in attempting the appeal but have still got a fine."

The fine for the driving offence is £60, unless you pay it within 14 days where it is reduced to £30.

An Essex County Council spokesperson said: "It has been illegal to drive through the bus gate at Duke Street in Chelmsford since 2011.

"Before turning on enforcement cameras, we increased signage at all junctions leading to the bus gate, sent more than 3,000 warning notices and painted the words "bus gate" in large letters on the road at both entrances to help make drivers aware of the restrictions.

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"Since we began to issue Penalty Charge Notices, the number of people illegally using the bus gate has more than halved from around 400 a day to less than 200.

"This has helped to ensure buses at the nearby bus station can run on time, has stopped cars using the city centre as a 'rat run' and has increased safety for pedestrians using this busy junction close to Chelmsford Railway Station.

"All money generated by PCNs is ring-fenced and reinvested to help improve public transport, roads and the transport network across Essex."